COLA Ledger

An independent reference — not affiliated with the Social Security Administration. Every figure traced to the government publication that produced it.

The 2012 Social Security COLA — 3.6%

Cost-of-living adjustment, 2012

3.6%

This adjustment was determined in 2011, took effect with benefits payable for December 2011, and first reached checks in January 2012.

Determined in
2011December-effective
First in a check
January 2012
Comparison quarter
Q3 2011CPI-W 223.233
Base quarter
Q3 2008CPI-W 215.495

SSA’s own table lists this adjustment under 2011, the year it was determined. The public name it by the year it reaches a check, which is one later. This site uses the name people search for. Why the two labels disagree.

This is one of the two proof years

The base quarter here is Q3 2008, not the third quarter of 2010. The rule measures against the last year in which an adjustment actually became effective, and the years between produced none. A naive year-over-year computation on this year is wrong, and it is wrong by enough to change the published figure. The rule, and the error it prevents.

The CPI-W values behind the 3.6%

Every adjustment is an average of three monthly index readings against an average of three others. These are the six values, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics published them for series CWUR0000SA0 — all items, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted.

CPI-W monthly index values and quarterly averages behind the 2012 adjustment
QuarterMonthCPI-W index
Base — Q3 2008July 2008216.304
August 2008215.247
September 2008214.935
Base quarter average215.495
Comparison — Q3 2011July 2011222.686
August 2011223.326
September 2011223.688
Comparison quarter average223.233

The quarterly averages are rounded to three decimal places — the precision the determination-2011 notice specifies — and the percentage increase between them is then rounded to the nearest tenth of a percentage point. That gives 3.6%.

Reproduced from the raw index

Recomputing this adjustment from the committed CPI-W series returns 3.6%, matching SSA’s published figure. That check runs on all 51 determinations as a blocking build gate, so no page here can ship a figure the arithmetic does not support.

What 3.6% did to a benefit

Monthly benefit amounts are floored to the whole dollar after the adjustment is applied, which is why these figures are not simply the percentage multiplied out.

Effect of the 2012 adjustment on two benchmark monthly benefits
Monthly benefit beforeAfter the adjustmentMonthly increaseOver a year
$1,000$1,036+$36+$432
$2,000$2,072+$72+$864

Medicare changes the answer. In 2012 the Part B standard premium was $99.90 against $115.40 the year before, so a $2,000 benefit gained +$72 gross but only +$88 net — an effective raise of 4.67% against a headline 3.6%. The full ledger for that amount.

The 2012 figures this adjustment set

Most Social Security parameters move with the adjustment or with the national average wage index. These are the committed values for 2012, each traced to the government table it came from.

Committed Social Security and Medicare parameters for 2012
Parameter2012
Maximum earnings subject to Social Security tax$110,100
SSI federal payment rate — individual$698
SSI federal payment rate — couple$1,048
Earnings needed for one Social Security credit$1,130
Retirement earnings test — under full retirement age$14,640
Retirement earnings test — year of full retirement age$38,880
Substantial gainful activity — non-blind$1,010
Substantial gainful activity — blind$1,690
Trial work period — a service month$720
First PIA bend point (eligibility at 62 this year)$767
Second PIA bend point (eligibility at 62 this year)$4,624
Medicare Part B standard monthly premium$99.90
Medicare Part B annual deductible$140

Where to go next

Sources and freshness

Figures effective December 2011. Page figures last verified against the sources above on 10 August 2026. BLS data retrieved 10 August 2026. BLS.gov cannot vouch for data or analyses derived from these data after retrieval. Corrections: the correction log · support@inventum.com.au